Yes, I agree with Sam. You can practice and make your intuition stronger. If you can't do it, just make a choice that is opposite what your intuition says. You already know that your intuition goes to the wrong direction and you need to practice to deny and to choose the opposite. Or stay away from the center of the problem and try to see it from a distance and it will be so clear that you feel like you are dumb that you don't see the truth beneath it.

I had a personal experience a few month ago and it solved a puzzle that I always had. I felt so dumb and stupid, but it was worth it.

did you guys ever see Donnie Darko? there's that long, snaking, shimmering, energetic coil that seems to lead the main character through his house & his life... to me the intuition feels like that when it's been developed well. it's always drawing you in the direction of your intentions... sort of "pre-paving one's path".

if you make the decision to live a life that is fully intuition-guided, it can be very disconcerting, because we have so many mental constructs about what we should & shouldn't do in order to be responsible actors in our lives, and often this just mucks about with establishing a clear path toward our goals. but if we follow the intuition's lead to tell us when to act, it's felt very keenly. one simply won't be able to sit still and avoid the action.. it's a kind of delicious compulsion toward an inspired action. and when it's not time to act... it's an experience of rest and gathering energy.

Okay, so here's my two cents based solely on my experiences:I've come to realize that intuition, if injected with my wishes, can only be the navigator of my conscious brain. However, left to its own devices, it becomes the navigator of my higher self. Instead of defining what I want, if I ask intuition to get me to where I need to be, when I need to be there, it would take me through very unfamiliar territory to wondrous places my conscious brain never dreamed of, but my higher self always knew about.

When my intuition and higher self are working together, the journey is usually through completely unfamiliar, scary, and precarious territory. However, the end result is that I always find myself in a place that I describe as "beyond my wildest dreams". It takes real blind faith to get there, and the only thing stopping me is usually logic, and fear.

My ego usually uses logic to make a strong case with statements like: "I know better", or "this unfamiliar territory doesn't feel safe and reminds me of bad situations X, Y, and Z, therefore you need to abandon your current course", or the ol' devastatingly effective, "c'mon now, you're just being silly". It's becoming easier to trust my intuition when I learned that the only reason I felt fear was because I was afraid of success, afraid of getting what I deserved, and afraid of getting what I needed in life. That's a whole other topic for the therapist's couch.

When my intuition and higher self are working together, the journey is usually through completely unfamiliar, scary, and precarious territory. However, the end result is that I always find myself in a place that I describe as "beyond my wildest dreams". It takes real blind faith to get there, and the only thing stopping me is usually logic, and fear.

navigating those waters can be confusing at first. but if one just goes in the direction of what feels good... it leads to good places. the intuition does give off red flags to warn of something that is not desireable. these are more like "seeing through appearances" than feeling scared or repulsed, though. it could also be one's emotional reactions that are giving off the red flags, but they have a different quality... there's a feeling of adrenaline that usually accompanies them.

if one keeps going in the direction of what feels good, it becomes easier to discriminate between the red flag warning of intuition and the emotional "charge" of energy that is actually resistance/anger/fear/judgment that pours out of emotional reactivity.

I'm going to play with that - what you are saying is that 'bad' intuition (or whatever one wants to call instincts that are destructive or harmful) have a different intrinsic feel to the good (and healthy) variety?

You see intuition plays a cardinal role in my science - I usually feel the right answer before I know how to get there. That takes some admission because the popular view of science is that its based on logic - well, figuring out how to get there and how you link the dots surely is, without that science can not be documented or explained (and you can not prove your case) but actually doing it - well that is about as intuitive as you can get.

In terms of a dance partnership, I never really had a tryout from nothing (ok, maybe once, but that didn't last long). I always knew my dance partners as friends first, and often dance together socially. So the decision to become dance partners was only a matter of sitting down at the pub after social and have a chat.

I've known this girl for about 3 years now, I've seen her compete and competed against her. I know her group of friends and she knows mine, and often we all hang out in a big group. But somehow I just never felt the possibility of us being partners, not like with my previous partners anyway.

I'm going to play with that - what you are saying is that 'bad' intuition (or whatever one wants to call instincts that are destructive or harmful) have a different intrinsic feel to the good (and healthy) variety?

i wouldn't call it bad intuition, i'd call it... hmmm... reactionary behavior. it's charged with negative emotional energy... judgment, fear, resistance, jealousy, resentment, etc. or it could be the opposite... a compulsive, unconscious attraction to the familiar, to what retains the status quo of safety and continuity for the psyche.

true intuition is not emotional like that. it is more like a clearer vision...whispered information.. "go here... do this... do it NOW... NO, do not continue down this path."

but what you describe as part of your work... that can be intuition. intuition is a critical part of scientific research and invention. it gives the ability to "feel" logic and consequences that are ahead of you, coming toward you, about to resolve.

I have read somewhere that people tend to feel more 'immediate bond' with someone who has 'similar personality traits' with them.

Eg. I don't feel immediate bond with my best friend because I am more quiet and she is more outgoing and outspoken type but I feel more immediate bond with my previous partner because we are both quieter more introverted people.

However, there are personality traits and then there are characters.

My friend does not come across as friendly when you first meet her but she is actually the most caring, loyal and genuine person !

My previous partner come across as harmless and nice when you first meet him but he is just about ready to switch loyalty when it suits his needs and he tells lies and partial truths to make himself looks good and put the blame on others.

Eg. He would tell me he disliked our teacher because he was such and such and I may partially agree with him and then he went to the said teacher and tell him that I said such and such things about him when in fact he was the one bringing the topic up.

I have read somewhere that people tend to feel more 'immediate bond' with someone who has 'similar personality traits' with them.

Eg. I don't feel immediate bond with my best friend because I am more quiet and she is more outgoing and outspoken type but I feel more immediate bond with my previous partner because we are both quieter more introverted people.

that's not my experience, DGD. i have felt immediate bonds with many people who had opposite traits. it's more about what kind of chemistry you tend to have with those you are drawn to, IME. it would be different for everyone.

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My previous partner come across as harmless and nice when you first meet him but he is just about ready to switch loyalty when it suits his needs and he tells lies and partial truths to make himself looks good and put the blame on others.

I can't see these things when I first meet them right ?

with your previous partner, those are necessarily personality traits, but character traits which anyone might embody... honesty/dishonesty, trustworthiness, manipulative, etc.

i've had some great learning experiences in my life of being around people like that who i didn't "read" well when i first met them. they helped me hone greater instincts, for which i'm very grateful.

well, to be honest, it's not always someone trusting their intuition that's doing that. going back to the familiar is very emotional and reactive... not necessarily intuitive. listening to the intuition and trusting it to lead you in your best interests is, IME, a different dynamic.

Ah, I get where you're going with that now, and I agree. The trick is learning to distinguish the difference.

well, to be honest, it's not always someone trusting their intuition that's doing that. going back to the familiar is very emotional and reactive... not necessarily intuitive. listening to the intuition and trusting it to lead you in your best interests is, IME, a different dynamic.

Ah, I get where you're going with that now, and I agree. The trick is learning to distinguish the difference.